Generally described, computers and communication networks can be utilized to disseminate a variety of information. In one typical embodiment, various computers can host information for access by various users via a communication network, such as the World Wide Web (“Web” or “WWW”). In such an embodiment, the information is embodied in a Web page that consists of text and/or images that individuals can browse via software applications on a computer connected to the communication network. As the amount of information provided via Web pages increases, users often utilize additional tools to help them select which Web pages may include relevant information.
One attempt to increase user assessment of information relevancy corresponds to searching tools that identify Web pages, or content within a Web page, that is related to a search criteria. Examples of searching tools include Web pages designed to initiate a search of Web pages on the Web and/or software applications resident on a client computer to provide a search of the Web or a search of a particular Web page loaded on the client computer.
In the simplest form, potentially relevant Web pages can be displayed to the user in their entirety. Although some search tools attempt to prioritize the listing of Web pages by relevancy, a user would have to browse portions of the Web page to determine whether the relevancy of the content. Additionally, users some times have to browse through large amounts of information to find the most relevant information on the Web page. In another embodiment, one or more terms/images within the Web page can be marked, or highlighted, to assist the user in determining the relevancy of the Web page and/or find the relevant portions of content within the Web page. For example, one or more terms in the Web page can be highlighted, bolded, increased in font size, or otherwise manipulated, if the terms correspond to the search criteria.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a screen display 100 corresponding to a Web page having highlighted search criteria. The screen display 100 can include various portions of information such as a text portion 102 and graphics portion 104. Additionally, the screen display 100 can include one or more highlighted terms 106 generated by a search tool for assisting the user in determining the relevancy of the content. Although highlighted search terms, such as the terms illustrated in FIG. 1, assist a user in assessing content relevancy and/or finding relevant portions of content, the benefit of highlighted information can decrease for Web pages that cannot be displayed in their entirety on a particular screen display. In such situations, users are typically required to manipulate software application controls that cause the screen display to “scroll” through the Web page in either a horizontal or vertical direction. In some instances, particular user computer screen displays can only display a limited amount of information in its intended format. In other instances, the amount of information provided by the Web page cannot be displayed in its entirety by most typical screen displays. Accordingly, users can have some difficulty in identifying all the relevant portions of a Web page that can lead to the user not reading and/or not identifying one or more potentially relevant portions. Additionally, users can also experience difficulty in assessing the relevancy of the Web page as a whole.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for dynamically adjusting display information to assist users in processing relevancy information for display content.